Maharashtra adds 1.5 crore people to its population in the last decade

In the past decade, Maharashtra has added 1.5 crore people to its population at a growth rate of 16%, taking the state population to 11,23,74,333. This takes India’s second most populous state’s share in the country’s total population to 9.29%.

The statistics were released by the state directorate of census operations on Thursday, as part of the final 2011 census data on the population, sex ratio, literacy rate and density of population. The report was submitted to chief secretary JK Banthia.

“We had released provisional figures before, but these are the final statistics of Census 2011,” said Dr SS Hiremath, joint director of the directorate.

While Thane recorded the highest rate of population growth at 36%, Mumbai city and suburban areas remain denser, with suburbs holding 20,925 people per square kilometer and the city having a density of 20,038 per sq km.

While Mumbai recorded the highest literacy rate at 89%, it has the lowest sex ratio in the state with 832 females per thousand males. Its suburban counterpart had a similarly abysmal figure of 860.

Beed, which was in the news for cases of female foeticide, has recorded a sex ratio of 807, way lower than its 2001 figure of 894.